Starclan's path
by FangOfYellow
Summary: Petalkit is young when she gets a star clan mentor, her path is set, but what if your destiny isn't right? What if the ones you trust aren't the ones who care?
1. New kit, new prophecy

**Chapter 1. A set path.**

"This one will be Patchkit, and this will be Petalkit."

Snowytail gazed at her two beautiful she-cats, knowing that their father would be so proud of them, proud of her.

 _I love you Scorchpelt, I always will, I pray for you to watch over my kits. Our kits._

 _"_ Everything will be fine Snowytail."

Turning her head, the white queen saw Lightheart, a new warrior that was heavily pregnant with the deputy, Barkclaw's kits.

"I can't imagine what it would feel like if I lost Barkclaw while I was stuck in the nursery."

Shooting a worried glance at her round belly, Lightheart turned to the clan's new kits.

"So, what are their names?"

Far off, a cat watched the two kits next to their mother.

"This will be the one." She murmerd

"This will be the one to mould her clan's future!"


	2. More kits, more spirits

Chapter 2. New kit, new spirit.

"Kits, get out!"

with a short meep, Petalkit was disturbed from her sleep, and rolled out the nursery into the dark night, shortly followed be her sister, Patchkit.

"Get Sourberry, now!" With a cry of pain, Lightheart slumped to the ground, eyes dazed and full of agony.

Scampering off, Petalkit yowled, "The kits are coming, the kits are coming!" - It didn't take a fool to guess the cause of Lighthearts pain.

A light grey she-cat - Sourberry, the clans medicine cat - shot through camp and disappeared into the nursery with a flick of her long, elegant tail.

"How did you know it was the kits?"

Patchkit, her brown cream sister, with a dark brown back paw, white muzzle and black patches asked.

with a flick of her ear Petalkit shrugged, "Common sense I guess."

Shortly, Flightclan's two apprentices, Volepaw and Shadowpaw trotted through the camp entrance, the two usually did late night hunting competitions, a secret known only by the two kits.

"Well I caught the bugger mouse!" Volepaw, a small cat with light brown scratchy fur snapped.

"Thats only cos you got Crystalstar as your mentor!"

The two apprentices had the luxury of being mentored by the clan leader, Crystalstar, and the deputy, Barkclaw, father of Lighthearts soon to be born kits.

The bickering toms then padded over to the four moon old kits.

With a nod, Volepaw eyed Petalkit, "Your stripes are really starting to come through."

"Stripes!" Petalkit franticly turned to look at her dark brown coat, and noticed stripes in the form of a lighter brown.

"Yep" Volepaw started to calmly scratch his ear, "I recon you'll be a tabby like me."

A yelp of laughter came from his brother, Shadowpaw.

"A Tabby! Why, your coat looks too much like a mangled piece of prey thats been dragged through nettles to bear the markings of a tabby!"

True, Volepaw's coat was unnaturally scruffy, you could find darker brown stripes run along the apprentice if you tried.

"Cut it out Shadowpaw!" The scruffy apprentice was usually quite calm, yet was unbelievably embarrassed by his coat.

"Yeah!" Patchkit, who couldn't bear to see any cat hurt, and had a particular hatred towards Shadowpaw took a stand. "Atlas he doesn't look like a shadowy tree at night!"

Snarling, the dark grey cat with a lighter tailtip and belly raised a sheathed claw.

Without thinking, Petalkit launched herself into the larger cat, winding him, and knocking him to the ground, and with a triumphant look, smiled at patchkit.

"Taken down by kits now?" Volepaw mocked

 _Great,_ Petalkit thought. _This didn't help at all!_

 _"_ Dead!" A yowl from the nursery broke the kit's thoughts

"My darling kit!"

No! Not one go Lighthearts kits!

Petalkit raced through the dark camp, and let the smell of herbs guide her to the medicine den, and looked around frantically, she had to do something! She could actually help while the rest of her classmates where bickering about tabby pelts, she could-

"Need help little one?"

A brown cat with a black muzzle, chest and underbelly formed infant of her.

A starclan cat!

"I will help you."

 **Thank you guys so much for reading this, my first chapter got 8 views in the first hour! I will hopefully update this once a week or more! Thank you guys so muck for reading!**


	3. Invisible wounds

Chapter 3. Invisible wounds.

"You need help?" The Starclan cat looked at the kit, and Petalkit nodded.

"It's Lighthearts kits-" Mumbled Petalkit

"Well, in order to treat the kit properly, you must see whats wrong, go now!" The cat seemed eager to help, and Petalkit didn't have to be told twice, so she scampered to the nursery to see.

"Look at the poor kit." Lightheart could hardly speak she was trapped in grief, her gaze locked on a tiny smokey kit, motionless and still.

"Please tell me there's no more." Her helpless gaze turned to Sourberry, "I- I'm not able to kit another."

"Don't worry," Sourberry leaned closer to the distraught queen, "That's the last one."

Amongst the crowd, Petalkit could see another kit, thank Starclan it was alive, it was a small white, scruffy kit.

Turning to leave, Petalkit saw the moon start to hide behind the hills that sheltered the camp, and raced towards the medicine den.

"Well?" The Starclan cat urged.

"Dead, there's nothing to be done." Petal kit felt a lump in her throat, it must have been the same feeling Lightheart felt upon seeing her dead kit.

"What about the mother? Any more kits that need treatment?"

"Yes," Petalkit started, "Lightheart is in shock, she needs to rest, to calm down and care for her remaining kit," Pausing, Petalkit felt the lump in her throat return, "Her only kit."

The Starclan cat nodded, "She needs to give her kit milk, this should do the trick." Turning away, the she-cat picked out a leaf, and nudged it with her paw.

"It's called borage, it helps stressed queens give milk."

Wrinkling her nose at the almost fury leaf, Petalkit asked,

"What else?"

"Well," The Starclan cat continued, "She needs to calm down, to nurse her kit properly, she needs poppy seeds, they will also help her sleep, they are-" The cat looked around, trying to find the leafs.

"Here they are!" Petal kit found a mass of seeds on a neat piece of bark, and poured some on the borage leaf.

"Well done, How did you know?".

"They're the only seeds here, I've got to go now."

Racing for the nursery Petalkit crashed into the deputy, Barkcaw.

"What are you doing here kit?" He snarled, Petalkit sensed grief behind the new fathers vicious response.

"I-I well I." Nudging the herbs Petalkit could hardly let out a squeak, "I brought medicine for Lightheart."

"Sourberry!" Barkclaw called, confused, "Look at this!"

"What in the name of Starclan are you shouting about!" Sourberry seamed to of transformed from the kind gentile, reassuring cat from earlier, "Can't you see I'm trying to reassure Lightheart? I already told you to-"

Looking Petalkit up and down, Petalkit started to explain why she had a bundle of herbs.

"I brought borage, for her milk, and poppy seeds to calm her down and to-"

"Help her sleep," Sourberry finished, her face expressionless, struck with awe.

"You genius kit! How in Starclan did you know that?"

 _How in Starclan indeed_ , Petalkit thought.

"Lets get these to Lightheart right way! You brought enough to give to the whole clan!"

Overwhelmed by Sourberry's booming voice,Petalkit thought she was going to shrink, "Sorry, I-Um."

"I didn't mean that as a bad thing, come on, lets treather."

Petalkit happily skipped into the nursery after Sourberry, leaving bark claw flabbergasted.

The feeling of grief that filled nursery tore Petalkit apart, she felt no leaf or seed could possibly quell the heartbreaking emotion that filled every corner of the den.

"These are for you," Petalkitnudged the herbs towards the mourning queen.

"Petalkit found them," Sour berry began to boast, "She picked all the right ones!"

"Thank you little kit." Light heart was able to muster a smile.

"I'm sorry about your kit, what will you call it?" Petal kit wanted to know what the young kit will be called in Starclan.

"Barkclaw," Lightheart asked, lifting her head from the herbs "Can you come in?"

"Yes, my dear?" The anxious tom padded next to his mate.

Turning to her dead kit, dawn's light started to flood the den. "I want to call her morningkit."

Confused, Barkclaw turned his head.

"The first thing she will see in Starclan, the morning."

Suddenly the sunlights golden glow took form of a tiny kit that leapt out of morning kits body, and sat next to her brother, as the light shone on the living kit, making it gold, a star pelted cat came down and took morningkit's spirit with it.

"Scorchpelt." Petalkit recognised the voice of her mother, Snowytail, and realised that she had just seen her father take morning kit to star clan.

"Goldenkit," Lighthearts mew silenced the nursery and the dawn's gold light left the den.

The kit wasn't gold, yet it was clear this was starclan's intended name for the kit that was asleep next to it's mother.

Closing her eyes, bewildered at the sight she had just seen, Petalkit simply gave out a small meow, and whispered, "Thank you."

 **Thank you for reading this, I know this chapter was a bit of a mess, please leave a comment so I know if i should write any more and Thaks!**


	4. Which 'paw'

Chapter 4. Which 'paw'

"This is thyme, it's used for?"

Soilstain, the Starclan she-cat insisted on training Petalkit to be a medicine cat, one way or another.

"I don't know, um, use the berries for shock?"

"Wrong!" Petalkit usually got this answer, "Thyme has no berries, you use the leafs for shock!"

With a hiss of annoyance, Petalkit rose to her paws and stalked off.

"I don't need to learn all this anyway, I'm not going to be a medicine cat apprentice!"

With a snarl, Soilstain lunged forward. "You must!"

Waking with a start, Petalkit rose from her nest and sighed, it was the same thing every night for the past moon, Petalkit was only growing tireder and tireder, as sleep was no longer refreshing.

As she trotted outside, she saw Patchkit, her sister, attempting to get a thorn out of Goldenkit's paw.

"Let me help." Petalkit sighed,

"Your not needed," Patchkit had turned sour for the last moon, worried that her sister would leave her, and with Volepaw and Shadowpaw having their assessment tomorrow, Patchkit was dreading being alone.

"Patchkit, I'm sorry," Petalkit begun

"Just go, you can start abandoning me now." Patchkit's voice was cold and dull.

So this was the life of a medicine cat, unwanted.

Picking herself up, Petalkit started to walk out of camp, she knew she wasn't supposed to, yet she didn't want another lecture from Sourberry, on top of all the ones from Soilstain.

Petalkit went to the twisting trees, a small group of trees that bent inwards, and held a small bush at the end in which Petalkit would usually go to sleep during the day to meet Soilstain for lessons.

This time, Petalkit went to sit and think, however it wasn't long befor she heard a disappointed sigh from outside the bush.

Padding forward, Petalkit was surprised at who she saw.

"Volepaw?"

The surprised apprentice looked at the kit, eyes round.

"Petalkit, what are you doing here?" He questioned, "You shouldn't be out of camp!"

Twitching her whiskers, Petalkit gave a shrug and replied,

"What about you? Why are you here?"

"Well, I, um…" Volepaw looked down at his paws.

"Worried your not going to pass your assessment?" Taking a guess, Petalkit sat next to Volepaw.

"No, of corse not." The cat's answer was honest, "I'm just ashamed."

Confused, Petalkit asked, "Why?"

"Well, since the badger war, we only have four warriors, including Crystalstar,"

The badger war was a story that was told over and over in the nursery, the war that took the life's of most of the warriors, and left untrained Sourpaw unprepared to heal the wounded, let alone the bout of greencough that followed.

"So, you're worried you won't be as good a warrior?" Petal kit thought she understood now.

"No,"

Gee, Petalkit thought, _Just spit it out already!_

"It's just, well, Shadowpaw and I where new apprentices when the war ended, and all the warriors fought in it and, well,"

 _Come on! A cat can only be so patient._

"What if we're not accepted? Shadowpaw and I will feel like such outsiders."1

Petalkit felt a wave of sympathy wash over her, Volepaw was right!

"What if I'm not good enough for this," Looking at his messy coat, Volepaw sighed, "What if I couldn't handle another war like that? So many lost, I could just be another forgotten warrior."

Petalkit knew this was where she had to step in.

"Warriors are not forgotten!" Petalkit looked to the sky, to Starclan. "Do you think all dead warriors are forgotten? What about Lightheart's sister, Shimmerpaw? I never knew her, yet I don't forget her, What about Eagleclaw, Roseflame, Fallenpelt," Listing all the names Petalkit heard in the nursery, Petalkit stopped, "And Scorchpelt."

Turning his head away, Volepaw sheathed his claws into the soft soil, slicing through the elegant grains.

"I'm an arrogant fool, of corse the warriors won't accept me after what I did after Scorchpelt's death."

Confused, once more, Petalkit stared at the apprentice blankly.

"He was my mentor before he died." Vole paw started. "It was only for a moon or so, and he was one of the clan's best deputies."

Petalkit knew that Scorchpelt was deputy, followed by Barkclaw after his death.

"I was thrilled when Crystalstar became my mentor, and Shadowpaw was equally pleased that his mentor was now deputy. I disrespected his memory!" With a hiss, Volepaw grew to his paw's and turned from the kit.

"I disrespected your father befor you where born."

Desperately thinking of a way to help, Petalkit rose up and yowled.

"So what?" The kit began, "You've grown to respect him, you always did, you where a young apprentice, what could you do? And how many can say that they've been trained by the Crystalstar? Mighty leader of Flightclan! I bet scorchpelt's spirit was laughing at you, proud that his apprentice will be mentored well, and you have, you deserve to be a warrior."

Puffing out his chest, Volepaw smiled, "I guess I do, thank's Petalkit, I bet you'll make a great medicine cat."

Petalkit's face fell, "Yeah, a medicine cat."

"Come on now! being a medicine cat isn't all about healing physical wounds, it's about healing the mental wounds of warriors to, you're full of wisdom, that's what makes a medicine cat."

Petalkit couldn't help but suppressed a purr,"I guess that is the best part about being a medicine cat, thanks Volepaw."

Volepaw nodded, "You to, kit."

Padding away, Volepaw beckoned for her to follow, "You coming back?"

Looking around, Petalkit knew she would have to speak to Soilstain, something she couldn't do inside camp.

"I'll be back in a bit, I know the way," Petalkit reassured him.

"Well okay, I'll go catch something, thanks." Volepaw hopped away, and the moment Petalkit saw his light brown scruffy tail disappear, she turned face to face with Soilstain.

"So, you've finally decided to become a medicine cat?"

Puffing up her chest, Petalkit nodded, "Yes, I want to help cat's with physical and mental wounds and become the wisest cat anyones ever seen!"

Soilstain wrinkled her nose, "Very well," She began, "However you still need to learn your herbs, it takes a lot of skill and knowledge, so lets begin this lesson."

"Well, actually," Petalkit didn't particularly want to do another lesson on berries, "I've been out of camp a while, It's nearly sun high, Snowytail might be worried, I should go."

With a snort, the she-cat disappeared.

Shaking her pelt, Petalkit padded out of twisting trees, and started to walk towards camp.

On her way, Petalkit heard a faint noise in the bushes, pricking her ear, the small kit whispered, "Volepaw? Is that y-you?"

The answer was not what she had hoped, as a colossal black and white beast stomped towards the helpless kit.

Petalkit had heard to many stories on these beasts, the monsters that wiped out half of Flightclan.

Badger!

 **Sorry this took a while to come out, I've been sick, but will write more soon, please comment! I would love to hear feedback, and to see if I should write more! Thanks for reading!**


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